Mr. Phillip Walford reports

MARATHON DISCOVERS NEW GOLD MINERALIZED TRENDS OVER 2 KM AT THE SPRITE AND RAINBOW ZONES

Marathon Gold Corp. has released the positive results of new trenching and bedrock sampling in the Rainbow (formerly Leprechaun North) and Sprite zones, Valentine Lake property. The Rainbow zone of multiple stacked quartz-tourmaline-pyrite (QTP) veining now extends over 800 metres from trench 10500 to the shoreline of Sprite Pond, with mineralization exposed in new trenching for over 700 metres, of which 600 metres have never been drilled. The Sprite zone multiple stacked QTP veined mineralized zone as exposed in new trenching now extends intermittently over 1,300 metres, of which 800 metres have not yet been drill tested. Channel samples are currently pending for additional new trenches in both the Rainbow and Sprite zones.

Highlights include:

• The QTP-gold-mineralized zones in the Rainbow and Sprite zones give a combined length in excess of 2,000 metres, of which 1,400 metres have never been drilled. New trenching in both areas has exposed extensive series of multiple stacked QTP veining. Bedrock samples from both the Rainbow and Sprite zones returned numerous high-grade gold results along the length of the mineralized zones. Initial channel intervals, as well as limited winter 2014 drilling in the Sprite zone areas A and B, returned wide, near-surface intervals with good grade continuous gold mineralization. Channel sample intervals are pending for new trenches extending over a combined 1,300 metres of mineralized zone strike length in the Rainbow and Sprite zones.
• The 2014 bedrock samples from multiple stacked QTP-gold veining in the Rainbow zone returned 41.34 grams per tonne gold, 33.31 grams per tonne gold, 26.00 grams per tonne gold, 21.42 grams per tonne gold, 39.12 grams per tonne gold, 29.17 grams per tonne gold, 10.24 grams per tonne gold and 14.27 grams per tonne gold, while reported initial channel sampling returned 6.19 grams per tonne gold over 9.3 metres, 1.41 grams per tonne gold over 20 metres and 1.03 grams per tonne gold over 19.0 metres.
• The 2013-2014 bedrock samples from multiple stacked QTP-gold veining in the Sprite zone returned up to 84.65 grams per tonne gold, 40.83 grams per tonne gold, 53.43 grams per tonne gold, 94.13 grams per tonne gold, 58.13 grams per tonne gold, 27.33 grams per tonne gold, 31.37 grams per tonne gold, 19.79 grams per tonne gold, 17.61 grams per tonne gold and 5.92 grams per tonne gold along the length of the mineralized trend. Channel sampling from initial trenching returned 2.11 grams per tonne gold over 8.13 metres and 1.85 grams per tonne gold over 7.02 metres, while previously reported winter 2014 drilling results included 2.20 grams per tonne gold over 16.8 metres in VL-14-542, 1.69 grams per tonne gold over 24.0 metres in VL-14-522, 2.53 grams per tonne gold over 16.5 metres in VL-14-549 and 5.35 grams per tonne gold over 6.0 metres in VL-14-553.
• The Rainbow and Sprite zones, located up to 600 metres north of the main Valentine Lake thrust fault, are interpreted as gold-mineralized zones focused over magnetic low zones interpreted as splay faults off the main Valentine Lake thrust fault.
• Systematic prospecting and trenching continue to discover new gold-rich QTP zones, and this exploration work will continue throughout the summer, focused along the entire Sprite zone as well as northeast into the Marathon area, where good gold values were found in extensive QTP-rich surface veining last year. The program will include examining historic trenches. The goal of this work is to define more future drilling targets for continuing development of near-surface open pit resources in the Valentine Lake property.

"Our summer exploration has been very successful as we increase our understanding of the gold mineralizing system at Valentine Lake and the role that splays faults, interpreted as magnetic lows, played in focusing gold mineralization along these secondary fault structures for up to one kilometre into the hangingwall away from the main Valentine Lake thrust fault. This is the same gold deposit model as found in other world-class structurally controlled orogenic gold camps such as Timmins. Over the past two months, detailed prospecting along magnetic low areas followed by trenching has discovered over 2,000 metres strike length of new drill targets in the Sprite-Rainbow area alone. The new mineralization on surface gold mineralization provides a great opportunity to develop additional open pit resources. Prospecting focused on magnetic lows is now under way at the Marathon area, where several new gold occurrences have been found in the last two weeks. Follow-up stripping and trenching will follow. Marathon's Valentine Lake property encompasses more than 17-kilometre strike length of the Valentine Lake thrust fault. The associated multiple imbricated fault splays extend for more than one kilometre away from the main thrust fault and provide for tens of kilometres of future exploration targeting. The Marathon crew is excited, as am I, as we continue our success in finding additional major new areas of gold mineralization. We have a long journey of discover ahead," said Phillip Walford, president and chief executive officer.

All of the samples were fire assayed at Eastern Analytical Laboratory Ltd., in Springdale, Nfld.

Sherry Dunsworth, MSc, PGeo, vice-president of exploration, Marathon's qualified person, has reviewed the contents for accuracy and has approved this news release on behalf of Marathon.

About the Valentine Lake project

The Valentine Lake property, owned 100 per cent by Marathon Gold, hosts two well-defined gold deposits with National Instrument 43-101-compliant resources: the Leprechaun gold deposit and the Victory gold deposit. The Leprechaun gold deposit is located near the southwestern end of the Valentine Lake property, and the Victory gold deposit is located 13 kilometres along strike to the northeast. These gold deposits form part of a 23-kilometre-long highly prospective gold-bearing mineralized corridor focused along the Valentine Lake thrust fault.

The Leprechaun gold deposit has a National Instrument 43-101-compliant open pit and underground resource (refer to Aug. 1, 2013, news release). The open pit resource is measured 3.5 million tonnes containing 247,000 ounces of gold, indicated 6.2 million tonnes containing 412,000 ounces of gold and inferred 1.2 million tonnes at 1.82 grams per tonne gold, containing 71,000 ounces of gold. The underground resource is measured 108,000 tonnes containing 17,000 ounces of Au, indicated 764,000 tonnes containing 100,000 ounces of Au and inferred 349,000 tonnes containing 69,000 ounces of Au. As a result of favourable drilling results in 2013 and 2014, the Sprite area, which is adjacent to the Leprechaun gold deposit, will be a focus of continued exploration this year. The Sprite area adjoins the Leprechaun gold deposit, and recent promising drilling is located 1.5 kilometres to the northeast of the Leprechaun gold deposit.

The Victory gold deposit (formerly Valentine East Hill) has an open pit resource (refer to Aug. 1, 2013, news release). The open pit resource is indicated 761,000 tonnes containing 41,000 ounces of Au and inferred 199,000 tonnes containing 9,000 ounces of Au. Both deposits are open to expansion.

We seek Safe Harbor.